Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, February 23, 2012 – The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) is pleased to announce the launch of its Extra-Regional Scholarship Programme for Caribbean nationals. Through this programme, CCRIF will provide three scholarships annually for citizens in its member states wishing to obtain a Masters or MBA degree in areas related to disaster risk management at a university in the United Kingdom, United States or Canada.
 
This Extra-Regional Scholarship programme is part of CCRIF’s Technical Assistance (TA) Programme, which is designed to help countries in the region deepen their understanding of natural hazards and catastrophe risk and the potential impacts of climate change. The scholarship component of the TA programme will help to create a cadre of professionals who can play a key role in developing national and regional strategies that will lead to improved disaster risk management and increased climate change resilience. To this end, CCRIF has allocated US$140,000 in its annual budget for extra-regional tertiary education scholarships.  
 
The Facility also provides funding for the CCRIF-University of the West Indies (UWI) scholarship programme for undergraduate and post-graduate students and a professional development grant support programme for staff in key Caribbean regional and national institutions.
 
Applications are now invited for the extra-regional scholarships for the 2012-13 academic year from individuals who are citizens of one of the sixteen CCRIF member countries (Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands).
 
Eligible programmes of study include Masters-level courses in the following areas:

• Disaster Risk Management
• Property/Casualty Insurance
• Disaster Management
• Meteorology/Climate Change
• Engineering (Civil/Environmental/Building with disaster focus)

Interested applicants should visit the CCRIF scholarship website, http://www.ccrif.org/content/extra-regional-scholarship to download an application form and to obtain additional information on eligibility, value of scholarships, application requirements and selection criteria. Applications must be submitted by April 13, 2012.
 
About CCRIF: CCRIF is a not-for-profit risk pooling facility, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean for Caribbean governments. It is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to Caribbean governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a policy is triggered.  It is the world’s first and, to date, only regional fund utilising parametric insurance, giving Caribbean governments the unique opportunity to purchase earthquake and hurricane catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing.  CCRIF represents a paradigm shift in the way governments treat risk, with Caribbean governments leading the way in pre-disaster planning. CCRIF was developed through funding from the Japanese Government, and was capitalised through contributions to a multi-donor Trust Fund by the Government of Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of the UK and France, the Caribbean Development Bank and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.